DSA
Australian Rally Championship Team
Driver - Mark Butcher
(ARC
Profile click here -
http://www.rally.com.au/competitors/profiles/id=33
)
Co-Driver - Lisa White /
Amy Pedretti
Crew Chief -
James Heinrich
Crew - Dennis
Heinrich
Car - 2001 Subaru WRX Group A/PRC
Latest
Rally News -
The DSA team just competed in the NWCC Gravel Hill Climb
on November 15, 2008. The team entered both Mark Butcher
and young and up-coming driver James Heinrich (17). This
was James' first event in over 12 months and the first
time ever in a turbo charged 4WD rally car.
At the end of the day, from 40
drivers, Mark finished 4th Outright and James finished a
creditable 13th.
Final results for the 2009 Australian
Rally Championship season were also released today - and
even though Mark only competed in 2 of the 6 rounds - he
scored enough points to finish 20th Outright, 18th
Privateer, 11th Premier League and 9th in Class.
Certainly with some sponsorship the
team would be able to compete in more rounds and score
more points in 2009 improving on this result.
The team are now taking a break and
considering options for 2009. Anyone interested in
supporting the team should contact DSA via this website.
More information on the
championship can be found at
www.rally.com.au
Videos of the team in action can be
found at
www.youtube.com/mbmotorsportrally
Official series sponsors -
NEWS
UPDATES.......
Media Release – Monday, October
06, 2008
Challenging Weekend
of Rallying for the DSA TEAM
Friday October 3 was the start
of the first ever Tarmac round of the Australian
Rally Championship held in around Burnie, Tasmania.
The Driver Skills Australia
(DSA) team of Mark Butcher (driver – TAS ) and Lisa
White (Navigator – WA ) where eager to hit the roads
in the all black Subaru WRX rally car. The crew
worked non stop for three weeks preparing the car
and making adjustments from gravel specification to
tarmac. The car also had to have some major
components rebuilt to insure the team could push
hard and maintain reliability on the fast and twisty
Tasmanian roads.
With the event underway early
on Saturday morning the pace was instantly set by
the Championship leading Toyota of Neal Bates.
Following him however the positions were chopping
and changing with some of the younger teams
certainly showing great speed. The DSA team were
performing well but struggling with grip on the wet
roads and after some reasonable stage times left the
road on stage 4 near Savage River.
“The roads were very wet and
it was raining on and off as we drove very near to
the limit and unfortunately we were caught out after
a fast section over a bridge and the following right
hand corner tightened up leaving me with little
option but to run directly off the road. We stopped
only about 1m from the edge of the road, but with
all the rain there was practically a creek running
under the car and no chance with semi-slick tyres of
driving back out. We were assisted by the recovery
crew but as a result had to be excluded from that
stage – effectively ending our chance of finishing 8th
– which we had been running up until then” said
driver Mark.
The team were not alone with
several other crews facing a variety of issues
including Michael Guest with gearbox dramas, Barry
Kirk sliding off the road and Craig Brooks had an
oil line come loose ending his great run in Heat 1.
The team salvaged 10th place for Heat 1
and were confident of an improved result on Sunday
(Heat 2).
Waking up on Sunday the
weather was looking promising and with the hope that
the roads would remain dry teams set off again to
tackle the roads around Hellyer Gorge and Savage
River.
A fast run over the first
stage had the team confident of a good time but it
was the little Mitsubishi of Molly Taylor that
really was flying giving the DSA team a slap in the
face. WA driver Dennis Dunlop was unfortunate to
slide around a corner and collected a piece of
Tasmania and re-arranged some of his Evo 7 Lancer in
the process. Unfortunately the DSA team then ran
over some of his bits on the road – that later lead
to a puncture. The DSA team also had a spectacular
half spin on this stage and nudged the gorge with
the front of the car – only enough to bend the
number plate however and not much time was lost.
The run to Savage River and
back was a bit damp and with the tight and twisty
conditions everything was pushed to the limit again.
Although the DSA team recorded a good time, once
again Molly Taylor had gained a further advantage
and was getting away from the black Subaru.
The pressure was on but things
weren’t to be for the DSA team as a flat tyre meant
that the team had to run with a brand new tyre on
the car which had not been scrubbed in. Also the
brakes had failed on the left side and by the end of
the stage the entire brakes were on fire, burning
out the seals and melting the brake pads to the
calliper.
“We reached speeds of around
160km/h and the brake pedal was on the floor – this
certainly gave me an adrenalin rush as we had to
make sure pace notes were spot on to avoid running
off the road and using what was left of the brakes
to slow down” said Mark.
After losing bulk time to the
rest of the field – the team decided to aim for a
finish on the final stage and with some repaired
brakes were happy to see the finish line after two
days of high speed rallying.
The Heat 2 result was 9th
outright and the team were pleased to have achieved
a top 10 result for the weekend and add to the
points already scored in the first round of the
championship in WA earlier in the year.
With a very limited budget,
the team are very thankful of the support of all the
local service crew and everyone that assisted in
getting the car to the start line.
Some outstanding performances
on the weekend from some of the other privateers
included Raymond brothers (Toyota), Brenton Kaitler
(Mitsubishi) and local driver Craig Brooks (Subaru).
Each of these drivers have demonstrated that the
sport has a great future. A special congratulations
to Molly Taylor who drove her 2 wheel driver
Mitsubishi hard all weekend and will be even harder
to catch when she steps into a quicker car.
The DSA team offer a range of
sponsorship packages that include hot laps and
defensive driver training and would be happy to talk
to anyone interested in supporting the team. The
team are planning an upgrade into a new car for
2009. Interested parties should contact Mark
directly via the website
www.driverskillsaustralia.com .
Getting it a bit too sideways! Heat 2 – Tasmanian
Tarmac Challenge 2008
MEDIA RELEASE –
September 23, 2008
DRIVING TEST FOR
BUTCHER
Local driver Mark Butcher will
be taking on Australia’s fastest drivers in the up
coming Tasmanian Tarmac Challenge, starting at the
Burnie Showgrounds on Friday 3rd of
October at 6pm. Mark has recently made the move from
the mainland and is looking forward to competing in
this round of the Australian Rally Championship
(ARC) after scoring points in Round 1 earlier in the
year.
“We are new here to Tassie but
we have managed to get to one rally and were pleased
with our results against some of the more
experienced local crews. This event is the first
tarmac rally for myself and I think I wont be alone
in saying that it will be a steep learning curve
converting from slippery gravel to the twisty sealed
roads around Burnie” said Butcher.
Driving a 2001 Subaru WRX
sponsored by Driver Skills Australia, Butcher will
be leaning on all the skills learnt from the years
spent teaching advanced and defensive driver
training in Australia and overseas to get him to the
finish of the two day event. “Our aim is to finish
both days safely and have a great time. Of course if
we can achieve a result that would be fantastic –
especially as there are only 2 local drivers in the
ARC component of the event”. Butcher will be joined
by experienced West Australian Co-driver Lisa White
who is flying in for the event.
The team are busy getting the
car prepared and are anxiously awaiting parts for a
gear box that failed on the last stage of the recent
gravel rally. The team would like to thank some of
the local competitors and crews for their assistance
in obtaining parts at the last minute.
“With some of Australia’s
fastest cars and fastest drivers gathered to compete
on the awesome Tasmanian roads, you would have to be
mad to not come and check out the action” said
Butcher.
Information on the rally can
be found at
www.rallytasmania.com.au .
Anyone interested in
supporting the team should contact Mark directly on
0439 966 072 or
mark@mbmotorsport.net . Information on the team
can be found at
www.driverskillsaustralia.com .
Ends.
ELECTRONICS SLOW START TO DSA
RALLY TEAMS RESULT
After an eventful start, the DSA Rally Team completed
Heat 2 of the Auspine Rally on Saturday September 13,
2008.
A
hectic week to prepare the DSA Subaru had it all ready
and set to go on Saturday morning only to be let down by
a small electronic module that effectively stopped the
team in its tracks. The WRX refused to start at the
start of stage 1.
Having to be towed back the service area effectively
ended any chance of a good finish for the event - but
with a 2 Heat system the team worked hard to rectify the
issue for the afternoon.
With
a big help from leading competitors Craig Brooks service
crew - the car was fired up and ready to go.
The
first few stages where fast and long - a real test for
Amy co-driving for the first time - but even with a
couple of extra corners (ie - turn around....) the team
set reasonable pace with some good times.
By
the 3rd stage things were starting to settle down - with
Amy getting used to calling the notes for Mark allowing
the team to drive quicker - several times exceeding
speeds of 150km/h on the dirt.
The
4th stage was looking great until half way thru the
stage 3rd gear exploded - meaning the team had to slow
down a bit and make use of the remaining gears.
"We
were really flying along and starting to get used to the
Tassie roads when 3rd gear went MIA. This did slow us
down a bit but we were still happy to finish the 2nd
heat and give Amy her first ever proper rally finish -
even if we missed heat 1!" said driver Mark Butcher.
Even
with all the little dramas - the team scored 4th
outright and were only a handful of seconds of 3rd
place.
Given this was the cars first run in a while, with a new
co-driver and many new components - the team were happy
with the result and have allready commenced stripping
and preparing the car for the next round of the
Australian Championship in October.
DSA
would like to especially thank Pete from the Total
Alarms Rally Team and James and Dennis Heinrich for the
many hours spent over, under and around the car before
and during the rally.
Sponsors are required to assist the team move closer to
achieving some outright results - so if you want to join
a fast moving team contact Mark or Amy via the DSA
website
www.driverskillsaustralia.com .
Check back here for details on the next rally -
Tasmanian Tarmac Challenge - October 4-5, 2008 (www.rallytasmania.com.au)
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